Citations:ask

English citations of ask

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• 1678 — John Bunyan. The Pilgrim's Progress.

  And whereas you ask me, Whither away? I tell you, Sir, I am going to yonder wicket-gate before me; for there, as I am informed, I shall be put into a way to be rid of my heavy burden.

  Yea, he did hold me to it at that rate also, about a great many more things than here I relate; as, that it was a shame to sit whining and mourning under a sermon, and a shame to come sighing and groaning home: that it was a shame to ask my neighbour forgiveness for petty faults, or to make restitution where I have taken from any.

  Why, go to him, and enter into some serious discourse about the power of religion; and ask him plainly (when he has approved of it, for that he will) whether this thing be set up in his heart, house, or conversation.

• 1719 — Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe.

  My conscience presently checked me in that inquiry, as if I had blasphemed, and methought it spoke to me like a voice: “Wretch! dost thou ask what thou hast done?

  Dost thou ask, what have I done?” I was struck dumb with these reflections, as one astonished, and had not a word to say—no, not to answer to myself, but rose up pensive and sad, walked back to my retreat, and went up over my wall, as if I had been going to bed; but my thoughts were sadly disturbed, and I had no inclination to sleep; so I sat down in my chair, and lighted my lamp, for it began to be dark.

  While I was thus gathering strength, my thoughts ran exceedingly upon this Scripture, “I will deliver thee”; and the impossibility of my deliverance lay much upon my mind, in bar of my ever expecting it; but as I was discouraging myself with such thoughts, it occurred to my mind that I pored so much upon my deliverance from the main affliction, that I disregarded the deliverance I had received, and I was as it were made to ask myself such questions as these—viz.

• 1843 — Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol.

  He spoke so gently to me one dear night when I was going to bed, that I was not afraid to ask him once more if you might come home; and he said Yes, you should; and sent me in a coach to bring you.

  "Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask," said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit's robe, "but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts.

• 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick:

  Is the steward an apothecary, sir? and may I ask whether this is the sort of bitters by which he blows back the life into a half-drowned man?"

Noun: request

• 2014, Raffaella Barker, From a Distance, A&C Black (→ISBN)

  The car had been going like a dream, but eight hours was a big ask for a thirty-year-old engine.

• 2015, Guy Kawasaki, The Art of the Start 2.0, Penguin (→ISBN), page 48:

  You're probably making a big ask because innovation requires a change in behavior and defiance of the status quo.

• 2015, Meghan Daum, Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed, Picador (→ISBN), page 28:

  For as long as he chooses to be here with me, it will be the latter. I want him to stay, but it is, as they say, a big ask.

Noun: "(Internet) a message sent to a blog on social networking platform Tumblr"

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ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 2011, Thord Daniel Hedengren, Tackling Tumblr: Web Publishing Made Simple, page 122:

  Asks are general question boxes that your readers can use to send you a question about whatever is on their minds, just as they would via any contact form on a website.

• 2017, Abigail Oakley, "Supporting one another: Nonbinary community building on Tumblr", in Sex in the Digital Age (eds. Isabel K. Düsterhöft & Paul G. Nixon), unnumbered page:

  Answering 'asks' like this is one common way that Tumblr bloggers interact with their followers, so it is in the act of publicly answering these asks that I examine community building practices.

• 2018, Lynette Kvasny & Fay Cobb Payton, "African American Youth Tumbling Toward Mental Health Support-Seeking and Positive Academic Outcomes", in Diversifying Digital Learning: Online Literacy and Educational Opportunity (eds. Amanda Ochsner, William G. Tierney, & Zoë B. Corwin), page 168:

  The following example from Black Mental Health illustrates an ask from an anonymous follower seeking social support: […]

• 2020, Lee Brown, "Behind the Scenes of a Popular Trans Youth Resources Tumblr", in A Tumblr Book: Platforms and Cultures (eds. Alexander Cho, Allison McCracken, Indira N. Hoch, & Louisa Stein), page 265:

  Once the number of unanswered Asks in the inbox was over eight thousand, despite us deleting everything accumulated in the inbox once a year.

• 2021, "falsteloj", quoted in Brit Kelley, Loving Fanfiction: Exploring the Role of Emotion in Online Fandoms, unnumbered page:

  I write most of my fics to kink meme prompts, exchange letters, or Tumblr asks. I like the challenge of it and the guaranteed audience of at least one!

• 2021, Katrin Tiidenberg, Natalie Ann Hendry, & Crystal Abidin, Tumblr, unnumbered page:

  At times, anonymous asks are used by those who read and follow tumblr blogs via a browser and do not have an account themselves.